The Spartan Legacy
by Dillster112
Summary: On a stroll, I fell into a vortex that brought me back to Earth, but not the one I knew. This world was torn by a galactic war between the United Nations Space Command and, what the UNSC claim as, the Covenant, an alliance of several races from all across the Milky Way. Being dropped into this future, I took the chance to make something of myself. I became one of the many Spartans.
1. Prologue

**Keep in mind this is just the prologue for the story. I wasn't planning on it being long. Working the best I can to tie this to the real story as best I can with a few extra bits and pieces of my own in there. Reviews would be nice. :)**

Prologue

…This is just perfect! One more week of school and we have an essay to write. I've been assigned the brilliant task of writing about nature. NATURE!? I couldn't believe it! It's like my teacher wanted me to suffer. But I don't blame her… I once left a thumbtack in her chair while trying to hang posters, and she sat on it. I felt bad but she was ticked. Haven't spoken in class since.

So I guess I have to waltz around the neighborhood staring at trees and animals while all my buddies get to go around watching television and doing things that are actually interesting. I watched as a bird flew from a nearby tree and into a bush. It never came out. That disappearance reminded me of the news this morning. At about 7 AM this morning, the government was going over issues about "disappearances" in local neighborhoods. Each time they said the missing people were outside in the neighborhood.

Something about that news was pretty unsettling. I'm walking in my neighborhood right now. What would happen to me? I threw those thoughts from my head and kept walking. In remembering the government issue, I also remembered those crazy scientists, stating the disappearances were a local anomaly caused by vortexes in specific parts of each neighborhood. I don't know where they would get that idea from, but it sounded ridiculous, so I just changed the channel. If I ever met those-

Something caught my attention. From a distance it looked as if there was a neon light behind the bush I was staring at while thinking to myself. As I neared the bush, it became more distinct as a blue swirl of some sort. I didn't believe it when I saw it at first. The scientists had been right. Or was I dreaming? Either way, I was stuck there, my jaw hanging down and my eyes unblinkingly staring at this "vortex".

In my shock, I didn't realize I was toppling over until it was too late to recuperate. I fell in. All I could see was a blue swirl that seemed to have no end. As I made an endeavor to look up, I saw the entrance close up. It was my belief I would never be seen again by my family. I would die there, falling into oblivion.


	2. Chapter 1: The Great War Begins

Chapter 1: The Great War Begins

I woke up sluggishly in the street. I felt like I had fallen off the Empire State Building and then been beaten with a baseball bat. I felt the back of my head, then looked at my hand. _Blood_. The back of my head is _bleeding_ from a little trip! I made an attempt to stand up without falling flat on my face. I began walking towards my house so I could retrieve the medical supplies I needed to fix the wound to my head. As I neared the place, I noticed my house was different. Actually, not just different, but utterly _destroyed_. It became hard to breathe, I fell to the ground, gasping for air. I finally forced myself to inhale and exhale. I looked toward the end of the street and-

Where the heck was the crossroad!? It wasn't even there anymore, just a big brick wall with people standing next to it. Wait a minute, _people_? I didn't realize that anyone still lived in this desolate neighborhood anymore, I also didn't blame the government for shutting this neighborhood off, considering how jacked it was. As I neared the men, I noticed something odd about them. They were each wearing what looked to be army uniforms. They wore bullet vests, helmets with orange visors in front of either eye, military boots, and-

Oh my, these men were armed to their teeth. Guns, grenades, pistols. They had more than I've ever thought a soldier would have. I began to back away from these three men (I don't think anyone would just walk up to armed figures when they just experienced an anomaly) when I just so happened to have tripped over a rock and fell on my clumsy backside. The men turned my direction and started walking towards me, one staying and watching the street from whence I came from when I woke up. I tried to scoot away, not thinking hard enough to just stand up and run. They picked me up _gently_. I was surprised they didn't man-handle me like any kidnappers would. They didn't even touch their guns.

"What are you doing here kid? All the citizens were evacuated from this city days ago," the man in the back said with a particularly loud voice so as to get my fleeting attention.

"What do you mean _evacuated_," I questioned them. They seemed to have a carefulness for society. These were definitely men from the United States Army.

"Wha- The city was overrun 3 days ago by the Covies, I really don't think you should be here. They don't leave human survivors, kid," the first one said with a stern look. It took me a while to process I was definitely not in my time anymore, but a time when the human race was actually at stake.

Just as I sat there contemplating these things, I heard an explosion behind the wall, along with human screams and commands coming from them. What frightened me was the color of the explosion, and the yells of somewhat _nonhuman_ beings. The men started to pull their weapons as the third man came running toward us.

"Jackson! The blasted aliens are killing the defenders! They will be through the wall any minute," he practically screamed so he could be heard above the madness occurring outside the wall in front of us.

"So be it. We fight to our deaths," he said before turning towards me and grabbing hold of my shoulders and giving me some sort of tracking device. "You need to find a safe hiding spot, kid. Once those aliens are through that wall, there will be no stopping them from killing every being they find inferior. The tracker is on, it will send radio frequencies to our outposts across the world and even on other planets as far as Neptune." With that he gave me a gentle push and joined his comrades near the wall, loading his gun for his unmistakable, but honorable, slaughter.

I could think of no other place I could hide other than what used to be my house. I ran through the door (pardon me, hole in the wall) and ran up the stairs which were miraculously intact, but stripped of the carpet covering it. I ran into my room and found a good sized hole in the wall where I could hide for a while as long as I was quiet. As I got into the hole, I heard the brick wall finally give in and the soldiers firing upon the hostiles threatening them. Though I heard the groans and yells of multiple nonhuman beings, I heard the men's screams within minutes of the wall's destruction.

I fiddled with the tracker, trying to find someone to get help to me before _I _suffered the same fate as the men, when I heard a thump on the stairs in the house. As the figure moved farther up the stairs, ragged breathing became distinct, as well as the scent of bloodied and ruined flesh. I could hear the hum of some sort of weapon nearing the doorway to my used-to-be room.

I sat there, just awaiting my death. Nothing. I did however hear gunfire somewhere in the neighborhood. Thinking it was one of the doomed soldiers, I returned to the dread and fear I was feeling when suddenly, a form of plasma burst through the wall right in front of where I was. Had I been in my childhood I'd have screamed and the freak would be sure of my presence, but I remained quiet, hoping it would go away. Instead it stabbed the wall even closer to my spot. I desperately searched for a way to escape when I saw another hole into my sister's room. I crawled into it, but I must have been loud, because the figure grunted and started marching into the room I crawled into. I huddled into a corner, hoping it wouldn't see me, but it did. It waltzed in front of me with his plasma sword in his 4-fingered hands.

"Well, well, well… Look what we have here. A fine morsel with which to feed my blade," it stated, sounding like someone from the middle-ages.

"If it isn't the King of the Ugly. You wish to please me with your frighteningly horrid features," I retorted. I regretted that decision however, as its face contorted into that of pity and anger as it raised its blade for the blow of fatality. I clamped my eyes shut, not wanting to see myself die a bloody gruesome fate. It never came.

I cautiously opened my eyes, believing the beast _wanted_ me to see my final moments in life. However, what I beheld wasn't a fierce alien, but a limp corpse of that alien that threatened my life just seconds earlier. I was curious at its fate when the corpse fell to reveal an armored figure with a jagged blade in its hand (wasn't sure if it was another alien or a human in a suit of high tech armor). It simply looked at me, and I returned the stare, mine in fear, his in an unknown expression thanks to his helmet.

"Come with me," he bluntly stated in a voice recognizable as a human's.

"Why should I, I don't even know who you are or where you came from," I argued. As I said this he turned his head towards me.

"To answer your first question, there are more Covies on their way to this very location. I am here to get you to Reach in the pelican that took me here to save you. To answer your second question, I am Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez."


	3. Chapter 2: Reach

**I apologize for not getting a new chapter in recently, I am not always able to post like some people with one set of parents can (divorce). I will take time, but I will manage to post more than a couple times a week. Review how I am doing. Thanks for following the story guys. Now, let's stop chittering and get typing. ****J**

Chapter 2: Reach

I sat there on the seats of the "pelican" (seems like a smaller version of a plane for the future military, by the way, BEST SEATS EVER!), as they had called it, thinking about the things that had just happened. I transported to the future, as Chief Mendez said it was the year 2525, met three very kind and honorable soldiers (Rest In Peace), and almost got murdered by a very freakish 4 fingered monster with the breath of a dog, and a big plasma weapon.

I owed Chief Mendez my life, considering he saved me from a bloodcurdling death. However, I wanted to know why he had even rescued me and where we were going. I wasn't just going to sit around and do nothing while they took me who-knows-where. I still don't know if they took me for experimenting or what. I looked to the man next to me who seemed to be staring off into space.

"Excuse me, sir," I said to the man, who turned his head toward me instantly, his visor hiding an unknown expression.

"Can you assist me in getting to the cockpit so that I may speak to the Chief," I asked. He looked ready to make a snide remark when he noticed another guy looking at him. This look made him put his finger down and help me unbuckle and get to the cockpit. I took one look at the guy who glared at the man and noticed his insignia. He was the leader of the squad, but I suspected he wasn't leader as long as someone like Mendez is around.

My "escort" opened the door to the cockpit where I saw Mendez watching over the pilots, making sure they didn't mess around like they probably did when the one in charge wasn't around to see. He turned his head toward me, this time he wasn't wearing his helmet, and I saw his features. He had a black moustache that curved around the upper half of his upper lip. His eyebrows were thin and straight. He had a large chin that some in my time would call a "butt-chin" and a big nose as well that looked to swell at the bridge. He looked like a teacher I once had. However I can't remember the name of the teacher.

"Chief," I started. "Where are we going?"

He simply sat there and looked at me like I was mad for walking into the room, but he bluntly stated, "We're going to Reach. That is where you will be trained."

I was confused by this unusual information. I wanted to know what Reach was. I was about to ask that very question when one of the pilots started speaking to Mendez.

"Sir, we are approaching Reach, I suggest you and the kid get into your seats. It's gonna be a bumpy landing today," the first pilot said, while the second focused on steering the pelican towards a planet that I assumed was the Reach they spoke of. I then proceeded to ask my other question.

"Training for what, Chief," I asked as innocently as I could without adding the sarcasm I would speak to my parents with. Again, he looked at me like I was a madman. But as he usually did when I asked something crazy to him, he answered bluntly to hide his irritation.

"I thought you'd know," he stated, knowing I had no idea what he was talking about, "You are to enroll in the most elite training facility Reach has to offer to gifted children. I see great potential in you, which is why I have decided you're going there."

When he noticed the major confused look on my face, he scrunched up his face like he ate something sour, then finished what I needed to know.

"You're going to be a Spartan."


	4. Chapter 3: Welcome to Reach

Chapter 3: Welcome to Reach

When we landed, I began to understand why the pilots wanted us to sit in our seats. The landing WAS rough. But luckily, not as rough as they thought it would be, apparently weather forecasts in the future suck too. How surprising, I never really believed forecasts anyways.

I saw about more than four dozen people beating punching bags and testing their luck with weapons of all kinds, whether it be swords, pistols, knives, and so forth. I noticed, however, that a lot of weapons were missing, such as rocket launchers and grenade launchers and even snipers. I guess I should have guess that considering at least three of the four dozen are below their teen years. I was still impressed by the way they could hold a gun and shoot without being pushed back even a centimeter. I actually felt a little jealous.

I didn't have much time for the jealousy though, because I was confronted by one of the older trainees. He looked to be around thirteen, maybe fourteen years old. He was American in my book, considering he was really white, but I don't think racial discrimination was a problem here anyways. I saw kids White, Black, Asian, all the sort playing and practicing and competing to see who had better aim. I was surprised when the kid came up and greeted himself to me.

"Hey, you seem new here. Let me introduce myself. My name is Isaiah," he said, holding out his right hand for what was more likely than not an invitation to a handshake. I sat there staring at his hand. After coming out of my trance, I took his hand and gave it a good shake. _What the heck is wrong with you! You just looked like a fool staring at his outstretched hand!_ My thoughts were probably what Isaiah was thinking, because he looked at me for a while like I was odd in every which way. I also guess he was waiting for me to introduce myself. Again I felt stupid.

"Oh. Sorry. My name is Dillon," I said as he finally lost that ill expression.

"We'll have to catch up later, I think Chief Big-Nose wants to see you." And it turns out he was right, I looked over to Mendez who was sitting there waiting for me to come. I waved Isaiah good-bye and jogged over to the Chief.

"You're going to have to get an examination before you can get a cabin and a trainee uniform. Come with me, kid," he said, walking off with me in tow. I wondered what this examination exactly was. In my time there were many kinds of examinations, but the way he said it made me feel uneasy. I walked into the examination room and waited for instruction.

One of the examiners waved me over to the chair in the middle of the room. I walked over and sat in it as she pushed a button and the machines behind and in front of me started to _scan _me. I fidgeted a little, but one look from Mendez told me to stay there and not bolt. I stayed there motionless for what seemed like 15 minutes when the scanners finally stopped. I finally went limp, my body aching from being a big piece of stone.

The examiner walked to me and started talking. "Ok, kiddo. You have bacterium that hasn't been seen for hundreds of years. The ones that make your nose all runny and makes your throat hurt-"

"A cold," I asked simply, but knowing why they had difficulty knowing what it was.

"Yes, before you can get a cabin and a uniform, you need to be cleansed of that disease," she said, making it sound like it was AIDS. She walked to her desk and got a needle the size of a paperclip. "Now, I promise this won't hurt."

She pricked the needle into my skin and I immediately felt the vaccine (or whatever it was) going through my blood and even my bones. I watched the monitor next to the wall and watched as all the blue blips on the red body frame disappear. It was apparent this shot was eradicating not just the cold bacterium in my body, but also a lot of the hidden viruses and other things that would normally harm a human body. I was awed by this procedure, that I didn't hear her tell me I could leave now.

She finally pulled me out of my trance when she grabbed my shoulder tight. "You can go now. Peter will be taking you to your cabin shortly," the examiner said, and she was closer so I could now read the nametag on her coat. _Dr. Catherine Halsey_ it said.

"Thank you Catherine," I said before I walked off. She smiled and waved. Without me bringing anything up, Mendez started to talk.

"Next time, do not refer to Dr. Halsey by her first name. She is a commander in the Spartan II program, so you treat her with as much respect as you would give me," he said in a neutral voice. Neither angered nor unimpressed, just giving me a tip on how to act in this facility.

Just as he finished a man walked up. His name tag read _Peter Gleeson_. _This is the guy taking me to my room_.

"Alright, Dillon. This way to your cabin, you are going to have a roommate so don't look surprised when you see him," he said in more of a positive expression. I was taken aback by the fact that he knew my name. I had only told one person my name and I didn't think he would just go telling officers what my name was.

"How did you know my name," I asked as I followed him down the corridors.

"I saw you talking to Isaiah, I asked him for your name and he told me. Simple as that," he said without looking back. "We don't keep secrets here unless it is necessary. The name is especially noted in our books so we can address you properly." It's not like I didn't know this already. I just wanted to know how he knew my name. _If anything I like his enthusiastic tone_.

He finally slowed down, turning toward a door with the number 69 on it. Being my immature self, I gave a slight chuckle at the number I was to be staying in. _What are the odds_. Peter gave me a glance before opening the door and revealing my roommate. And despite what he told me earlier, I dropped my jaw, getting an eyeball roll from Peter, when I saw who it was.

"Hey, Dillon, interesting to see you in my cabin isn't it," said the Isaiah I met next to the pelican just an hour earlier.

"Enjoy your stay," Peter stated bluntly before walking off back down the corridor. I looked around the room. It was small, but was also big enough to fit four people. I was glad there were only two beds, otherwise, I _wouldn't_ have enjoyed my stay very much.

The two beds were on each side of the room, each with a bookcase next to it and a desk at the foot of it. I was awed by how glamorous it was. It was like having 2 full rooms in one. It was bigger than my room in the time 2014. I then missed being with my family and I became depressed. I sat on the bed.

"What's wrong, dude," he asked me, apparently noticing I was upset.

"I just miss my family is all," I replied, hoping he didn't ask where they were.

"Yeah, it happens, that's how the trainees are enrolled. They are cloned and abducted with a note to the parents, saying their son is going to save the galaxy." At this he gave a chuckle, and I couldn't suppress one either. I then threw that feeling aside and asked when we would become Spartans.

"If only I knew. But I'll tell you what I do know," he said, with a serious look on his face. "Only a handful of trainees can handle the augmentation that is required to become a Spartan. I don't think you should get too excited to become one of the galaxy-known super soldiers, because for all we know, we might not make it out alive.


	5. Chapter 4: Augmentation

**After this chapter I will be updating previous chapters with a small new feature for The Spartan Legacy: Chapter names. Each chapter will now have a name instead of boring old 'Chapter 2' or 'Chapter 3'. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4: Augmentation

I was awoken by the sound of a horn blaring throughout the halls. It seemed to be coming from everywhere, thanks to the reverberation.

"Isaiah," I said, trying to wake him up from his deep sleep. "Why are those horns going off?" He shuffled a bit then woke up when he finally heard the sound.

"Yep, it's breakfast time," he said, seeming more than joyous to get dressed and down there. "I don't doubt they're going to give some sort of lame announcements like yesterday."

"What announcements?"

"Nothing really. Just boring structure announcements." We walked the rest of the way in silence. When we approached the kitchen, there were hundreds of trainees. Never had I thought there were this many people enrolled.

"Look out for Douglas and his buddies," Isaiah warned," they're the tough ones." I got my food and sat down next to Isaiah. Less than half a minute passed before a soldier came up in the middle of the room and started speaking to us.

"Attention trainees," he began, "I am here to inform you that the augmentation is beginning soon. I ask that all of you go to the augmentation chamber and find your augmentation set, designated by your name above it. That is all."

Many people began to sit there and stare at each other like nothing was wrong. But something was wrong, this process would kill many of the trainees or fatally injure them for life.

"Why didn't anyone else know," I asked Isaiah, who was busy eating like no tomorrow.

"They weren't supposed to know until today. I did a little snooping around though and found plans for the Spartan II program," he bluntly said, finishing his pizza in one bite. As we finished eating we walked towards the chamber together, possibly to our untimely demise. We entered and found our machines, coincidentally, right next to each other. Before getting ourselves hooked up by the engineers, I noticed a trainee cursing and making odd looking hand gestures at the engineers, whom grabbed hold of him and forced him into his machine.

"Who was that oaf," I asked, not trying to hide my dislike.

"Who you calling an oaf, skinny boy," the kid countered, glaring me down, while also receiving a glare from me.

"This is my friend, Jacob," Isaiah said, "we've been friends since childhood." He then introduced me to him and we calmed down after a while. After what seemed like forever, we finally got hooked up and were about to be put to sleep when Isaiah said:

"See you in the afterlife."

Then I blacked out.

* * *

I woke up feeling completely stiff. I couldn't move my arms or legs. Barely even my own eyeballs. I felt a lot stronger than I did before I was put to sleep. I looked over to Isaiah, who seemed to be having the same feeling and thoughts. The doctors walked over to us and helped us off the machine and into our beds in our room. I was really sore and I just crashed right there, halfway on the bed.

I woke up about two days after, feeling like crap, but no longer helpless and tired. I was about to shove Isaiah awake when I realized he might need more time getting over the fatigue. I stumbled to the cafeteria where nobody was. I looked around for any sign of trainees or instructors, but found nothing. I became worried until a trainee I know as Jerome ran up to me, insisting I go to the training grounds, or as the trainees like to call it, the "battlefield".

As I walked in, I beheld a sight I haven't seen for a long time. A fight. And not the old training type of fighting. But a _fight._ Bloody knuckles and broken noses and the two competitors throwing punches left and right. As I got closer, I recognized the two that were fighting instantly as John and Douglas, two of the most feared and awed trainees in the academy, John being the awed and Douglas being the feared. John was a close friend and Douglas was about as close a friend as a carrot was to being considered a fruit.

I couldn't sit and watch this. Feeling my body improved seeing this battle, I stepped in to stop them. John backed away willingly, but fierce Douglas started throwing punches at me for interrupting his fun. Then something extraordinary happened. As Douglass threw punches at me, I either deflected, blocked, or countered. He threw one at me, I pushed it away as a warning. He threw another, I grabbed his hand and crushed it a little as another warning. Then he threw one at my face.

I don't know what got into me, I grabbed his wrist and flipped him over my head and slammed him down on the floor as light as I possibly could while also getting my point through. Though we had all been augmented at the same time, I recovered quicker for some unexplainable reason. Douglas simply looked up at me like a helpless child about to be beaten by the school bully. And frankly, that simile might have come true. The students around me backed away either awestruck or horrified.

I turned to "good sportsmanship", pretending it was practice, and helped Douglas up. He shuffled away, possibly to go alert an instructor, but I didn't care. I walked over to John, who was huddled against the wall, his face covered in blood from his nose and a couple cuts on his face.

"You alright," I asked, checking various exposed parts of his body for bruises, cuts, and the likes.

"Yeah," he stated without looking directly at me, "I must thank you, another minute and he would have murdered me perhaps." I was struck dumbfounded by this. What did John do to release such fury from one of his fellow trainees. He must have read the look on my face, because he blankly replied to my unasked question.

"I accidentally bumped into him in the lunch hall. His lunch fell and I ran, knowing he was going to get me," he started, a pained look in his bloody features, "I stopped here, knowing I couldn't run forever. I fought him for 5 minutes when you came in."

I helped John to his feed and brought him to the medical facility. When we got there, I told Dr. Halsey the entire story, even the part where I bloodied up Douglas. She didn't give any recognition of anger or upsetting, but I could tell she felt like that.

I left the facility when Douglas walked up behind me and beat the back of my head. I turned around and he had a group of delinquents with him.

"You'll regret what you did back there, kid," he said, making me sound like a child. I looked around for any instructors that might help. None, and Dr. Halsey was too far away to hear my yells for help. I went into a defensive stance as each trainee punched me, going for weak points such as the stomach or the groin. After what felt like a few scant minutes, something barreled into Douglas and one of his cronies. Another vaguely familiar figure ran into the fray, slipping past the crew and beating them left and right. As I got up, I recognized the guardian angels immediately.

Isaiah and Jacob had come to the rescue. Though they were winning, I couldn't just let them do it alone. Using the brute strength I quickly acquired this afternoon, I flipped two of the retards and broke another guy's finger, making sure he and his friends didn't try to jump anyone again. I was finishing up when I got a worried look from Isaiah (Jacob not caring the slightest bit what was going on). However, when I turned around, I realized they weren't looking at me.

I was looking right into the eyes of Chief Mendez, and I could tell he wasn't very happy.


	6. Chapter 5: The Beginning of Everything

Chapter 5: The Beginning of Everything

I sat in the office that I assumed belonged to Chief Franklin Mendez when he wasn't in the field. It wasn't a wild guess though, the name plate said so and there was a very large portrait of him on the wall opposite of me. I would've been crazy not to think it was his.

The door slammed open and I saw Mendez take a seat at the desk and I felt 4 figures shuffle up to line up shoulder by shoulder in a straight line like in the military, except this _was_ the military. Easily enough I could tell the 4 figures around me were none other than Douglas, John, Isaiah, and Jacob, and there was no way this wasn't about the big fight that broke out today.

The Chief looked us up and down, taking in every detail, including our cuts, bruises, sweat, and even our expressions. He could tell we were masking our terror, and he smirked.

"This doesn't always happen around here you know," he said with no hint of anger or irritation in his voice. He seemed almost calm. "Normally I would have murdered you five for the show you put on today. However, I saw the security footage, and I have to say that I am very impressed with your combat skills, gentleman."

I was shocked by the sudden change in the environment. No more were we freaking out, but we were actually quite proud to be complimented by the one and only Franklin Mendez.

"A little more training and you five will make the perfect Spartans."

We all looked up at that news. Of course we were all to become Spartans, but he said _the perfect Spartans._ By that he most definitely meant that we would be unstoppable by human and alien hostiles.

"You still have many years ahead of you before we will willingly send you into a raging battle like the ones going on Earth," he said. "Now, get to work." With that he left the room, leaving us standing there before he remembered us, yelling:

"AT EASE!"

We left the room silently, hiding our joyous expressions. I apparently wasn't hiding mine well. For a long time now I've been trying to find a new life for me in this desolate world. I was getting closer yet to achieving that goal. Though I still had to wait years for that to finally happen.

* * *

I defeated my challengers with ease. Each time one swung at me, I was ready to counter their assaults. However, this wouldn't have been an easy feat had I been fighting Spartans. Five Orbital Drop Shock Troopers were assigned the task of taking me on in combat. Whether they lived or died was no concern. The fact they helped with training Spartans was honorable enough, though I always tried to be as careful as I could with them. We need every man we can get in this war.

As I said, I defeated them with ease. The worst casualty was a broken rib, but the least was a bruise to the forehead. I did both my jobs: winning and making sure the ODSTs survived. As I watched my fellow Spartans battle the ODSTs (rougher than I did, which hurts me inside to see the ODSTs brutally murdered), I had flashbacks of the time I was told I would make the perfect Spartan. _A little more training and you five will make the perfect Spartans_ he had said to us and I remembered every single word of that sentence 6 years ago.

However, now is the real deal. I have my MJOLNIR Mark V armor, my weapon of choice (Shotgun), and I have been dubbed Spartan-112 or Dillon-112. My allies also got the same things. Each one got Mark V armor with a weapon of choice and a dub. John-117 chose the Assault Rifle to his liking due to its better accuracy than Shotguns and better power than Battle Rifles. Douglas-042 chose the Spartan Laser, due to his heavy armor that can handle recoil and force used by it. Jacob-69 chose the Battle Rifle with the Spartan Laser as backup, and Isaiah-111, like John, chose the Assault Rifle as his primary weapon.

It had seemed like eternity, but Mendez finally assigned us a mission. He assigned Douglas with two other Spartans, Alice-130 and Jerome-092, to keep the peace on a planet known as Arcadia, as well as to eliminate any foreign threats against the civilians, the UNSC, or the peacekeepers themselves. They were called Red Team, and had red a red stripe across their chest armor and on the top of their helmet.

John was assigned to assault a Covenant base hidden somewhere on Reach.

Isaiah, Jacob and I were assigned to assist veteran John Forge in liberating a small area on a planet I didn't know the name of. It was taken over by Covenant and the marines that were there scattered throughout the landscape. John Forge and Blue Team (us) were ordered to rally those troops and take back the area.

It was 24 hours until mission launch, and nothing would stand in our way of victory.

* * *

The pelican was landing us approximately six miles away from the target location so as to avoid being struck down by anti-air or just straight up getting Wraithed to death. The pelican dropped off Sgt. Forge, me, Jacob-69, and Isaiah-111 with two warthogs with two extra marines to man the passenger seats.

With that, I got into the driver's seat of the jeep while Isaiah took the gun of my vehicle. Jacob was gunning for John. Both marines stay put in the passenger seats with grenade launchers in their hands. We slammed the gas and drove off toward the gates of the contested area.

We were driving at 90 mph, crashing into grunts and elites that got in our way while also watching for any surviving marines. In this process, we gathered five groups of marines and three extra marines driving a warthog. With that, we began the push on the enemy territory. However, as we approached, we noticed an anti-vehicle shield blocking off the warthogs, which may have been the most powerful units in the group.

The marines charged in, destroyed the shield, and we all charged again, this time at the enemy bases being built in place of ours. The marines fired several rocket launchers and Spartan lasers and threw grenades while the warthog riders shot their grenade launchers and the gunners shot their gauss cannons and their minigun turrets.

Within half an hour, we had destroyed every single Covie base in the vicinity as well as every elite and grunt surrounding the area. The miniature army signaled ships to land more soldiers and several vehicles, as well as the pieces needed to remake the bases in the vicinity. I looked off into the distance opposite the way we came from. _Whatever is next, I'll be ready._


	7. Chapter 6: Hunter and Hunted

**I will be editing stories sometimes. For proofreading or fixing a problem with the story. Just letting you guys know.**

Chapter 6: Hunter and Hunted

The base was built within five hours, which didn't really surprise me, considering the future had more experienced technicians and also more machines to help with the construction. The dropships brought the base frames, the Cyclopes (large man-like vehicles that can easily build and/or destroy buildings) handled the very heavy objects and placed them in their assigned places with ease and, surprisingly, gentleness. Around the base were the barracks, a troop training facility, the depot, a factory for land vehicles such as tanks known as scorpions and jeeps known as warthogs, a reactor to power these bases, and a supply pad to get the resources to build these units.

Though it seemed peaceful, it really wasn't that much. Covies kept appearing on the outskirts of the base grounds, apparently trying to spy on us. Only a few aliens dared show up near the base though. Each one that was found was either killed or interrogated. We were running out of time though. If we waited too long, the Covenant would build a near unstoppable force and all hope would be lost. One of the aliens, the race being of the one that nearly killed me in childhood, screamed at its highest volume that the Lekgolo would be the end of us. At this point I'd had enough. I grabbed my pistol and shot him square in between the eyes, another of my greatest talents.

"Spartans, on me," said the gruff voice that could only belong to Sergeant Forge. Isaiah, Jacob and I hastily gathered around the hologram in front of him, staring at what could only be a Covenant base.

"I have a mission for you three," he began, looking at the hologram. "You must infiltrate this enemy base and destroy it and any Covenant you find. It is crucial the base is completely destroyed so we can begin construction on a new base." With that he sent us off, giving us a reactor to blow up the base with.

We got into our warthog and drove off to the coordinates given, hoping that the base wasn't as bad as we thought it was.

* * *

We stopped the warthog when we came within sight of the sinister-looking purple base. At first we just looked at it, probably in awe, but after a moment we grabbed our weapons and went off into the mountains so as not to be seen as easily. We stalked along the rough terrain, only blending in because of the bushes covering our blue-striped green armor from sight. Within hours, we arrived at the base. There were many foreign buildings and two strange prehistoric looking beasts holding what looked to be snipers atop two Covenant sniper towers. I could only assume these were the Kig-Yar, or Jackals. Notorious for their sniper ability and their dastardly shield gauntlets. I slowly raised my pistol, ready to take both out silently, when suddenly-

"DIE YOU ALIEN FREAK-SHOWS!" Jacob ran in, firing his battle rifle with zero success in hitting the Jackals even on the shields. I sighed and ran in, shooting both the Jackals in the heads while they were distracted. The running in idea was good, but shooting like crazy was a stupid mistake only Jacob could have made.

I snatched his battle rifle away and shoved my spare shotgun in his hand so he didn't cause any more problems. We then cautiously made our way into the enemy base, breaking the necks of a couple jackals and elites, the four-fingered abominations. It seemed to take hours, but within half an hour we arrived at the center of the keep. There were Covenant swarmed around the area of the room. Elites were guarding each entrance, Jackals were watching for life-forms, and Grunts were surrounding the Elites. We had gotten the ones guarding our door before sneaking in and hiding behind a wall. Then a big problem occurred to us. This group was in the way of our mission.

I gave orders to the other Spartans. Jacob was reluctant, exclaiming he just wanted to rush in and slaughter them all. A heavy-duty Spartan (or as gamers from the 20th century called them, 'tanks') wouldn't have a problem with that, but if he charged in, he might as well just scream at the top of his voice and alert them all we were here. We would take them silently, even if it took the whole bloody night.

Jacob took his position near an entrance, grabbed the lone Elite not surrounded by Grunts, crushed its head in between his hands, then silently lifted it to an anonymous spot. Isaiah got his silenced magnum/pistol out and shot the heads of the Jackals. They were easily dragged away, as each Grunt was faced towards the bottom floor openings. I took the liberty of assassinating each Grunt with eyeball shots while Jacob and Isaiah used their own silent methods of killing the Elites who quickly learned my position. The Grunts, having smaller brains than Jacob, couldn't figure it out themselves. When there were less than 5 left, I showed myself by jumping onto two of them, stabbing one with my knife and crushing the latter's head into liquid. Jacob grabbed one, clamped its mouth shut, and slowly ripped it in half. Isaiah ripped the head off of one and snatched a gas mask off of another while pinning it to a wall, waiting for it to die from lack of methane, which it breathed on its home planet.

Soon thereafter, I stepped up to the core of the structure, placed the reactor bomb, and primed it. Having exactly 6 minutes to get out, we immediately took off running. However, as we started running, we were stopped by a figure larger than Jacob by about 6 inches. It had blue plate armor across its orange, stringlike flesh. It had a flat blue head plate, a large blue shield on its forearm, and a large cannon on its opposite arm. I had heard of these creatures in frightening tales from the other trainees on Reach, but never before had I seen one. Until now.

The cannon flashed green slowly. I rolled out of the way as a great green bolt of light flew out of the cannon and into a nearby wall, leaving a very large hole in its place. Knowing what came next, I urged Isaiah and Jacob into a different direction when we were blocked there too by another. All entrances, a Hunter would appear. We were cornered, and it had been a minute already. Then, a great red laser blew a Hunter's shield and chest plate off. I turned to see Jacob, Spartan Laser in hand. I grabbed my shotgun and charged the Hunter, shoving my shotgun into the exposed flesh and shot twice immediately. It fell within seconds.

We then proceeded the escape, Jacob in the back so he could take the heavy damage for us. The entrance became visible. We were 100 meters away from it. 50. 25. We were going to escape-

A giant explosion came from behind. The reactor only had a few scant seconds to look up before the entire base collapsed on us.


	8. Chapter 7: Arcadia

Chapter 7 - Arcadia

The three Spartans sat atop the roofs of Arcadia, snipers in hand. They hadn't seen anything worth jumping into or investigating. Citizens went on with business, driving around town going shopping and doing whatever they normally did when there weren't Spartans, Covenant, or anything else for that matter. The forested region was nothing but peaceful.

"Douglas, you might want to see this," Alice said through the comm link. Douglas immediately engaged the small jet pack he had acquired for the mission and flew onto the roof where Alice waited, looking through her sniper scope. After a moment she noticed he was there with Jerome and she pointed to the streets. Douglas looked down his own scope and saw a scorch mark on the field next to the street.

"Keep watch here," Douglas began. "Whatever did this doesn't bode well." With that, he flew onto a building overlooking the city square. Something seems off. That scorch mark was glowing. He and the other Spartans realized, upon seeing the scorch, that Covenant were probably running about the city, somehow, without being detected. He had to find out before innocents were killed.

* * *

I slowly began to recoup. That collapse would have been deadly to us had we not been Spartans. Though the impact did knock us down because of the force of it. No doubt the Hunters were crushed, but one only knew if they were still alive. I checked the debris for my fellow Spartans, but found them already out of the rubble, leading what looked to be a dozen marines to the Covenant fortress just north of our base of operations. I pulled myself out of the destruction that covered me and waltzed over to Isaiah.

"What did I miss?" Isaiah seemed to jump when I said this, but neither of us showed recognition of it.

"We conquered the fortress and we're escorting Forge and Anders through it," Isaiah claimed. In all the time I was stuck in the garbage, everyone else was taking over the fortress. As the last marine passed our rally point, we turned and marched toward the large opening in the mountain.

When we entered the mountain, there were corpses everywhere, both UNSC and Covenant. We were careful not to blow up the propane tanks, for it would cause disarray and distraction among our little escort. In less than half an hour, we were at the core of the base. There was a big terminal in the middle that looked to be in the shape of a planet. Anders and Forge started whispering about something before Anders began to walk up to it and place her hand on it. Immediately over three dozen smaller dots, most likely symbolizing planets or stars in a galaxy, appeared surrounding us and the enormous blue ball. Everyone began to look around as a marine right next to me fell on his forward side, a large magenta needle sticking out of his back. I turned around in time to block another needle going straight for Anders. Everyone ran to cover, not including the Spartans of the group. However, no sooner had we charged at the host than our shields were immediately depleted and we were forced to run back and take cover. Not even Jacob's tankish armor could take many blasts before it would eventually kill him. I protected Forge as he called in help from the Spirit of Fire. It was desperately needed at this time.

* * *

More strange things appeared in Arcadia. There were civilian corpses on corners near the forested region to the east of the metropolis, more scorch marks, as well as a couple dead Covenant. Red Team ordered that a wall of marines be placed near the coordinates of each known attack. Marines would report having seen small squads of Covenant Grunts and Jackals, but one would always get away. This was ill news to behold. _Scouts_. Something bad was approaching.

* * *

The base fell in ruins. Many had thought it would be impossible to find. However, John found traces of the hidden base somewhere in the hills of Reach near ONI. The destruction of the base was vital, for it would save countless lives on Reach and planets around it.

"Spartan-117," came a seemingly familiar voice across the comm implanted in his helmet. "This is Captain Cutter of the UNSC Spirit of Fire."

"I read Captain," John acknowledged.

"I received a distress call from Sgt. Forge. He and Blue Team are pinned by attacking Covenant forces," Cutter exclaimed to John, who was taking in every detail. "The Spirit of Fire needs you to retrieve them."

"I'll do it."

"There's a pelican on its way, we must hurry though. Or I'm afraid Blue Team might perish."


	9. Chapter 8: The Great Escape

Chapter 8: The Great Escape

"We are approaching the landing point."

John watched the landscape fly by as they grew nearer and nearer to the landing point. He saw many UNSC fortresses along with some Covenant temples. Although many of the bases on both sides were under assault, the UNSC seemed to have the upper hand in each of these battles.

"We're here," the pilot said about ten minutes after the previous report. The marines inside began to suit up, getting on any armor, weapons, and other objects they might need on this rescue. John also made sure they got extra armor. Knowing exactly what they were dealing with, John found it necessary for their intended survivals. They hovered a moment, allowing John to jump 14 feet to the surface to ensure there weren't any hostiles around that would assault any given moment. The signal was given, and the craft landed, letting each marine cautiously walk out. However, before taking off, the pelican dropped a large vehicle that had the capability to frighten anyone that opposed it. John ordered a marine to board the vehicle and another to operate the turret. Four marines mounted the sides of it. Another pelican dropped another of the same vehicle. Again, a marine got in the cockpit and turret. Three sat on the sides while John sat on another. John have the order to move into the large foundation, where gunshots of both sides could be heard. Every now and then, he would hear the shriek of a dead or, otherwise, injured being. They proceeded across the Forerunner bridge.

* * *

I believed it was going to be our last stand. Forge couldn't get a hold of any UNSC bases in the area and Jacob's heavy armor was useless, due to heavy weapons used by the Covenant. Our units fell one by one, unable to stop the undying force of pure abhorrence. I was prepared to send another salvo of bullets when suddenly the firing ceased towards our direction. I dared look up to see a huge armored tank steamroll an Elite and four Grunts into the ground. Reinforcements had come. John was among the party. He jumped off the tank and sliced open an Elite's throat, jammed the blade into another's head, and threw it at a nearby Grunt's head, which immediately exploded into confetti. I blinked once from confusion and instantly I saw Jacob beating down multiple hostiles at once, crushing in heads or ripping off appendages. After the threat had ceased, Jacob just leaned back against the Grizzly, as it said on the thing itself.

"Yeah... Your welcome guys," he said greedily. Isaiah walked up to him, pointed to his right, and punched him in the face, as hard as any Spartan could, when he fell for the trick. Jacob saw the point of the pounding. He grabbed his weapon and started following the garrison towards the bridge. However, when we got there, there was no bridge. In fact, there wasn't even a terminal anymore. It was blown to junk. We searched around and found two dead Grunts close by, apparently blown up by whatever did this. We began to lose hope when Anders brought up the second bridge she saw on the way in. We turned around to hear a demonic sound that probably only the Spartans of Blue Team knew well. Through one of the caverns throughout this dump, I made out the vague figure of a Hunter.

"Run..." I began. The green beam began to charge up. "Run," I yelled frantically, trying to push them away from the danger. But it was too late. The green beam had charged too far, it launched towards the vulnerable figures in the hopes if incinerating them all. Jacob ran in front of the beam before it got to them. He lost all his energy shield, but what did it matter. The marines didn't have any shields, neither did Forge or Anders. They quickly marched toward the new terminal that held their escape.

* * *

The Spartans fended off the heavily-armored creatures while Forge and Anders led the group and the Grizzlies toward the terminal. However, before Anders even started pushing buttons, an army of Elites and Grunts stormed the group. Though the tanks made easy work of them, the marines fell one after the other in the hopes of protecting Anders so at least the two UNSC leaders could escape. After what seemed like hours, the terminal finally gave in to the hacking, allowing them to walk across the bridge. When they got across the bridge, the four Spartans began to run like heck. They shoved enemies and leaped over them, some of the Elites falling off the bridge in the process. They made it to the end and the bridge was shut down. Any Covenant stupid enough to stay on the bridge fell to their death.

* * *

After we made it across the bridge, we continued to move towards the opening. Though the peace didn't last long. Hundreds of Hunters began pouring through the openings in the sides of the large hall. Anders and Forge were shoved into the tanks to be protected, while the others faced certain death. We were getting within 50 meters of the exit when one of the tanks finally gave in to the attack. Anders wobbled out, having been hurt in the rough stop. Me and Jacob ran over. I blocked incoming damage while Jacob picked her up and sprinted to the exit, which was typical for someone like Jacob to sweep a girl off of her feet, but I admired his tenacity and perseverance. I charged out with him, ultimately distracting any Hunters that wanted Jacob dead. In the end, we got out to see about a thousand marines and ODSTs holding formation in front of the horrifying scene. There were a dozen Grizzlies and three pelicans as well. One of the pelicans was at the evac point. We rushed the two leaders over there and handed them to the Shock Troops inside. We made sure they had a safe escape before turning around to handle the threat behind us

* * *

Their suspicions have been confirmed. Covenant were present in Arcadia City. Not only have many people been killed, but the city square was assaulted. In fact, it still was. The Covenant sent Wraiths, Elites, Jackals, Grunts, Ghosts, etc.

"Spirit of Fire," Douglas started as he and the other two Spartans sniped vulnerable aliens. "We need reinforcements."


	10. Chapter 9: Defense of Arcadia

**I'll be taking my time. I'm writing two stories at once, the latter being on FictionPress under my same username. Just know that.**

Chapter 9: Defense of Arcadia

We were deployed to Arcadia to escort civilians to evacuation transports. Apparently, Covenant are swarming the surface of the once peaceful region, building bases to strengthen their numbers. And it paid off. There were wraiths and ghosts and Covenant squads everywhere, eradicating every last human being they saw. Blue team got off the pelican and saw all this.

"Let's go kick some a**," said Jacob, using a word I didn't much like, but didn't much care either, since it was so part of his nature. He charged in. He flipped three ghosts over his head and even managed to pick up the wraith and threw it into the fountain, where the Elites inside drowned from lack of oxygen. I stared at him, and he knew I was in awe. He showed off his skills again, grabbing the other wraith and holding it with one hand. A ghost came seemingly from nowhere and rammed Jacob like the sucker he was. I did a facepalm, but proceeded to take out the driver of the wraith and commandeer the purple vehicle. Isaiah took another wraith and Jacob took out aliens with his fists of fury. We blew up nearby Covenant vehicles and infantry while other civilians escaped. When the threat had ceased, the three Spartans hovered (and ran) towards the ships

* * *

Douglas pulled his jagged knife out of the Elite and continued to escort a group of civilians to ship 1. Jerome and Alice were escorting other groups to the other two ships, and Blue team was nowhere to be found. He wondered if we had ended up brutally murdered by the beasts that had assaulted the city. Just then, a large wraith appeared in front of the escapees and turned towards them. It stared for a while, then fired, but not at them, but at a group of Hunters behind them. It veered around the party and went on its way. And immediately, Douglas knew where Blue team had gone.

* * *

Forge drove the ruined streets in Arcadia during the attack, searching for any signs of trouble, and he found it. At the foot of a comms tower, there was a buff man engaged in melee with an Elite, and behind the man, a young boy. He looked terrified and, looking a bit closer, had a pistol in his hand. Forge immediately slammed the gas and went for the Elite. It noticed right away. It crushed the man's head and turned toward the child. It was too late though, for Forge had already smashed the warthog into the packed body.

"Get in," he said. The boy looked startled by this appearance. Forge got out and packed the man's corpse in the warthog and helped the boy into the vehicle. He pushed on the pedal and drove to the first ship. However, minutes later, a large explosion blew the hog onto its side. Forge crawled out, expecting the Elite to drive him through. It had platinum armor and two energy swords at its sides. However, all the Elite did was stare with what seemed to be a smile on its devilish face. He activated an energy sword and walked towards the boy. Forge leaped at it, which instinctively grabbed his body and slammed him to the ground. It grabbed the boy, preparing for the killing blow. The kid had tears on his face. He cried silently. Suddenly, a Spartan tackled the Elite, making it lose its grip on the boy.

* * *

I had tackled the dumbfounded Sangheili, not wanting to explode the child with my wraith. I pounded its face in, trying my best to make my point clear before I killed the alien menace. It grabbed and threw me while at the same time reaching for its other energy sword. I regained balance in time to counter a slash from the plasma weapon. I knocked it out of the Elite's hand and kicked it to the floor. It looked up at me and smiled before it dematerialized in front of me. I silently groaned, then turned toward the Sergeant.

"Get him to safety," I said, pointing at the small human. He picked up the child and sprinted to a nearby ship.

"Screw the evac," said one of the pilots on the transmission. I watched as it began to take off without the order. I almost shot the driver from there, but thought of the passengers. Just then, two banshees swooped in and blew up the ship. I grieved even more as I watched the remnants of civilians and the ship plummeted to the sea. I ran to the second transport.

* * *

I arrived at the second transport just to discover transport 1 was also destroyed. Again, grieving, but then immediately I ran into the streets to escort the civilians to the extraction point. It only took hours, but all the civilians that were left were loaded onto the ship. It took off with an escort of pelicans, hawks, and three Banshees which were piloted by Jacob, Isaiah and I. We were quickly flown into space only to see the Spirit of Fire and the Pillar of Autumn under attack by a Covenant vessel.

"Blue team, we need you up here," Cutter said over the comms.

"We're coming," Isaiah said. "What's going on?"

"We were awaiting you and Red team's return when a Covenant Cruiser came and attacked us," he explained. "Pillar of Autumn flanked the ship but it is too strong to defeat."

"What will you have us do, Captain," I asked.

"I want you to escort the civilians to the Autumn," Cutter began. "I will then order them to enter slipspace while the Spirit distracts them. Blow their engines and weapons systems. We will take it from there."

"What if we don't get back," Jacob asked. I knew he was going to ask a question like that, so when Cutter finished, I jammed the signal. No use asking irrelevant questions to a Captain. The Welcome Wagon, the transport ship, changed course and we followed. As soon as it got to the Pillar of Autumn, the escort ships changed course towards the Cruiser.

"Get ready Spartans," I started. "We're going in!"


	11. Chapter 10: The Boarding

Chapter 10: The Boarding 

Our fighters were impossibly soaring through all kinds of plasma fire and ship debris, both UNSC and Covenant ships. Once or twice either me or Isaiah would almost hit debris flying at, seemingly, a thousand miles per minute. Jacob wouldn't care though, he would destroy the asteroid and other debris with the ship's weapons. I chose not to bother his enjoyment. Whatever made him happy made him shut up.

"We are nearing the ship, boys," I said as we came within shooting distance of the cruiser. We flew in the direction of the hangar. There was only a single seraph in it with no pilots to commandeer the flying wraith. The shimmering shield that protected the hangar from the vacuum of space began to grow small.

"Speed up," I said. "The doors are closing." Our ships quickly began to pick up pace and, before we knew it, we were in the hangar gay of the Covenant cruiser. The door had barely just shut.

"Gather your lethals," I told them while grabbing my own weapons. "Any freaks get in our way, dispose of them."

* * *

"Go! Go! Get out of the city!" Douglas was directing the escape. The civilians were safe and sound, out of Arcadia. The same could not be said for the soldiers there. They freed their seats for women, elderly, and children. The entire platoon was under heavy fire and initiated an escape. A UNSC base stood nearby the city in case something happened. This was the time. Over a hundred soldiers were sprinting towards the coordinates. Only a couple dozen died in cross-fire or explosions. In half an hour, they arrived at the base. The injured took the pelicans back to the Spirit while the rest stayed until more transportation came.

"I hope Blue team is having a better time than us," Douglas thought to himself as he watched the Covenant army closing in on their position.

* * *

Over four dozen dead, yet that didn't help anything. The core to the ship was nowhere to be found and the two UNSC frigates under fire. It was the frustration that killed the four dozen Elites and Grunts that we ever saw.

"Obviously we aren't going to find the core," Isaiah said. "Why not just go to the bridge and override the system?" That's why he's the brains. I nodded. Jacob seemed not to really care as long as he bashed some skulls in. We began to go to the bridge after the approval. We sneaked through the corridor that didn't know we were there. Yet. We came at a point where both corridors intersected across each other. Elites were on both sides perpendicular to our corridor. We had no choice. We began to silence our weapons. When we were ready, we jumped out into the open and shot each one in between the eyes. I set eyes upon an energy sword on one of the Elites. I looked to see if Jacob or Isaiah were watching, then picked it up and hid it on my person (don't ask me how). We walked confidently as we neared the bridge. The guards defending the door looked menacing until we put a few bullets into them. They collapse like they were never alive. I checked the door going into the bridge. Locked. Jacob didn't care though. He ran full speed into the door, smashing it onto the ground. We began the firefight by shooting the shipmaster in the forehead. I tried to shoot another Elite, but my gun was empty. I reached for my knife and remembered I had thrown it into a methane tank in my frustration. I then remembered my energy sword. I pulled it out and activated it.

"Dillon," Isaiah said, but I ignored him. I charged into the fray, energy sword in hand. I did an uppercut on the nearest Elite and sent it flying into another one. I then impaled another Elite in the heart. I ripped out the sword and swung again only to have my sword met by another. The last Elite. He had silver armor and a terrifying look of pure hatred for me. He looked to be the commander of the other Elites before I came into combat with him. I broke the clash and went for his head. Miss. It dodged and went for my back, but was tackled by Jacob and Isaiah. But it dematerialized instantly as if teleporting. But that was beside the point. The bridge was under our control.

* * *

Cutter watched as the cruiser ceased firing at the Spirit of Fire. He wondered what was going on inside that caused the shooting to stop. Though the enemy stopped, he had no reason to. The Spartans may have been on board, but they were capable of escaping with ease. Just then, 3 fighters flew out of the hangar of the ship.

"Concentrate MAC cannons," Cutter ordered. The MAC cannon began to glow, then in a split-second a beam of bright blue broke the cruiser in half.

"Sir, we have a situation."

"Speak Douglas," Cutter said.

"We are at the extraction point, but the army is zeroing in on us as we speak. We either need a lot of reinforcements or immediate evac." Cutter immediately knew what to do.

"I'm sending Blue team to you, and be ready for ODST reinforcement."


	12. Chapter 11: Return to Arcadia

Chapter 11: Return to Arcadia

"Land impact in 3... 2... 1..."

We soared through the air at about 100 miles an hour. We released the landing gear and braced for impact. The landing was rough beyond all and I was taken by surprise by this sudden crash that sent my Shotgun flying off around the pod. The ODSTs began to exit the pods and suit up for battle. Though we were out and ready before them since we were trained for this sort of situation.

When I got a good look around, I realized we were in the ruins of Arcadia City. Bloodied and burned corpses of innocents and soldiers from both sides lay sprawled out on the ground. In all my years of fighting, I had never seen such carnage wrought by the Covenant. It made me sick. Judging by Jacob's body movement, he was upset. Actually, the correct word would probably be pissed. He kicked rubble around and beat up nearby Covenant corpses until they were indistinguishable with bashed in chests and faces.

"We can't linger around here," Isaiah spoke up after about eight minutes of disgusted silence. "Red Team needs us." Jacob nodded. I as well. Following orders, the ODSTs marched with us on the tail of the Covenant.

* * *

The Covenant were nearing the small platoon, and there was no sign of their rescue. It seemed to Douglas that they were all going to die. But not without a fight

"Prepare to retaliate," he called out loud to make himself heard above all the chatter going on around him. Soldiers turned towards him fretful.

"What if we can't win," asked a nearby soldier with a private ranking medallion on his helmet. People began to half-heartedly hit his helmet.

"We will die fighting, you knucklehead," a corporal nearby replied, apparently annoyed with the private's question.

"Yes," Jerome acknowledged. "It could also give Blue Team time to get behind the enemy." Everyone nodded. Some marines whooped, loading their weapons and taking cover behind the fallen pelicans near the grounds. Soon afterward, a horde of Covenant could be seen making their way toward the last known location of the UNSC forces. A base not a long distance behind the hostile army disturbed Douglas. The horde might be never ending as long as the base stands.

"Men, we have a problem," Alice said before Douglas could. "There is a Covenant base behind that hill over there." Everyone looked and acknowledged. "We need to push to the base and bring it down." More whoops from the marines and they were off to the base.

* * *

"Sir, there are two forces coming towards us from both directions."

"Advise," the silver armor clad Elite ordered of the much smaller Grunt.

"One of the forces is the medium sized group that fled the city after it's destruction," the Grunt informed the Elite. "The other force is a smaller force that appeared after the base was done with construction." The Elite rubbed what might have been its chin had there been one.

"Tell me," the Elite said, "Which of the two is larger in force?" The Grunt pressed a few buttons on the hologram and a foreign graph appeared.

"It appears the first group is larger in unit number," the Grunt told.

"Then that is where I am going," the Elite said before the Grunt could finish. "Send two of our highest ranking Sangheili to the northwestern hill. We will handle them first, then the other threat will follow."

* * *

Red Team and the marines took cover behind a bunch of boulders as a hail of plasma fire came towards them. They shot down over four dozen Grunts and Elites, but they kept swarming in from seemingly all sides.

"We are going to lose, sir," the private said. "We should leave and keep running.

"If we do that, Blue Team won't find us and might run into this madness. And besides, running will just tire us, the Covenant will easier be able to reach us," Jerome advised. The fire from the hostile side ceased to come and the enemies turned the other direction. The marines took that as a sign of defeat and forfeit. They began to whoop, cheer, fire bullets into the darkened sky. But something wasn't sitting well with Douglas. He looked at Alice who looked back, showing she must know something is up. Douglas looked at Jerome who, cheerful as he was, was cheering with the marines. Douglas and Alice looked over the rocks. Nothing was in sight. He looked down his sights and still saw nothing-

A single shimmer caught his attention. He looked in the direction of the nearby hill and saw more shimmering and the diffraction of light. He slowly lowered his scopes as he saw three of them moving faster than before, now that Douglas had seen them.

"Get away from the hill," he yelled at the marines. Too late. Three marines were stabbed from behind by energy swords, their faces still wearing that of cheerfulness, which made it even more difficult to look at them. The Elites uncloaked and hurled themselves at the marines, who were protected by the Spartans. The Elites and Spartans went into a large clash with the marines shooting at the disfigured humanoid forms. The first two seemed unskilled compared to the other. The silver Elite took on two Spartans at once due to the first Elite's dead corpse spilling blood from the neck area. Douglas noticed three green figures near the enemy base. What made him smile was that they had thin blue stripes on their chest plates and helmets.

* * *

I cracked the Grunt's neck while Isaiah pulled his knife out of the Elite. Jacob was egotistically climbing the base in the hopes that taking the top of it apart would make it collapse in on itself. Isaiah and I thought it was a ridiculous theory, but we let him experiment just to see if it would work. After about a couple minutes, the base fell apart, but not because of Jacob's toying around with the spire. A phantom flew in and launched missiles at the base trying to hit Jacob. He fell and had a hard impact with the ground, leaving a small crater and a couple tiny scraps of metal. The phantom flew into a nearby mountain, sure that they would be punished for destroying their own base.

"Well," Isaiah began. "Good job, your theory didn't work but you brought a different conclusion."

"Yeah," he said tiredly. "The Covenant don't like King Kong." Didn't seem much like Jacob to use such an old reference, but we ignored it and turned our attention to the sound of assault rifle fire to the north west. We walked over the hill and watched Red Team sparring with a single Elite. Jacob and Isaiah didn't know exactly who it was though. I realized it was the same Elite that I took down during the evacuation. It had managed to escape, but I wasn't expecting it to still be alive. I realized this Elite was special in a way, but before I could alert the other two they charged in guns ablaze. The Elite turned back and recognized me, or more likely just the armor. It dematerialized before Jacob and Isaiah could reach it. I sprinted down toward them.

"Everything alright," I asked Douglas.

"Minor casualties," he said. "Could've been worse."

"Advise."

"We lost Privates Gordon and Davõn and General Carr." The news was upsetting, but Douglas was right when he said it could have been worse. We turned to see a pelican flying towards us. When it landed and the doors opened, me and Douglas hopped in and sat in front of each other. I turned off my transmitter so only we could hear what we were going to say. Douglas repeated.

"That Elite you were fighting," I began. "I saw him at Arcadia, and I believe he had guards with him too before he got to Forge." Douglas nodded.

"He is a pretty skilled fighter," he said. "He must be of some high rank in the Covenant." I nodded my agreement.

"The next time you see him, let me know. I want to personally place a disruptor beacon and take him out." With that I switched my transmitter back to everyone and got in on the unimportant things that were going on.


End file.
